April 2018 was marked by the start of the SNCF strike. In total, 12 days of strike were initiated by the railway workers while the Air France pilots went on strike for 8 days (also not consecutive).

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SNCF 2018 strikes: Are they derailing the hotel business?

SNCF Strikes: have your hotel business operations been affected?

With green indexes for February (+8.0% at RevPAR) and March (+6.8% at RevPAR), April recorded a RevPAR of +7.1% which in reality hides an inequality in the progression of the two indicators: the occupancy rate rose by only +0.2 point while average prices rose to +6.8% in the French chain and independent hotel sector.

Overall, the budget segment seems to have suffered the most from this first month of strike. Even though it achieved a +3.3% increase in RevPAR, this was due solely to the +5.3% rise in prices, which attempted to offset the -1.3 point drop in the occupancy rate.

The higher segments posted significant growth in RevPAR.

Once again, the economic segment relied on price increases (+6.0%) to explain the RevPAR's performance, while its occupancy rate remained nil. The midscale segment achieved the highest price increase (+6.6%), rising from 94.2 to 100.4 euros, while the occupancy rate rose by almost one point to 68.9%. The upscale category seems to have withstood the April strike series the best: the 8.6% increase in its RevPAR is explained jointly by an increase in prices (+5.2%) and the occupancy rate (+2.3 points).

Not all territories were equal in the current economic context. The Paris region (outside Paris) saw its RevPAR jump 21.2% thanks to prices rise (+12.1%) and occupancy rates rises (+5.8 points). A gap has emerged between provinces and the Paris region (outside Paris).

The province suffers with a decline in...